Should You Continue to Train for Strength While Cutting Reddit

Posted by u/[deleted] 7 years ago

Is it bettter to train power or hypertrophy on a cut?

Wondering if I should program to go for low reps and sets, or have a lot of volume in general.

I would conclude that it would be better to train for power, as I will lose mass in general on a cut, so doing a lot of volume work seems pointless. However this is just my theory, wondering if there's actually any truth to that.

level 1

The rule of thumb is basically to pretend that you aren't on a cut. Do your normal workout, try to get your normal progression. Unless you've got top tier genetics (or drugs I guess), you're not going to be able to keep up your normal progression, and you'll probably end up losing some amount of strength and muscle mass but you should fight for every inch by sticking to your program. Your objective is to minimize those losses. If your routine has been working for you, there's little value in changing it just because you started cutting.

level 2

Sooo much this. Mostly because I like to train "powerbuilding" style so I try my best to maintain my numbers for my main lifts within a certain range. Obviously on a cut you lost some strength, but deadlifting is so boss.

level 2

You really don't lose that much muscle mass on a typical cut if any at all. In my experience I'm lifting as much as I was before a cut just a week or two after eating at maintenance. It's just your body operating at a caloric deficit that makes you feel weak in the short term.

level 1

Usually people favor low reps with higher weight while cutting because some people feel that they don't have the energy (glycogen) to keep on pushing with high reps. If you feel this is not an issue then by all means do high reps, I don't think it matters that much. I prefer low reps while cutting myself.

level 2

Glycogen stores are directly related to carb intake, this is why people can appear "deflated" when on a low or no carb diet regardless of their caloric intake.

level 1

Whatever your workout was on a bulk, do the same on a cut.

Beware of your body, your goal will be to maintain strength, but most likely you will lose some strength, adjust bny decreasing load, decreasing reps, or both.

level 2

I experienced the opposite. A few years ago I did a huge cut of about 80 lbs. I went from 260 to 180 in about 6 months. The whole time, I increased weight and reps in pretty much every exercise and I was eating 1200 to 1500 kcals per day. It can done. Require a lot of work and even more nutrition monitoring.

Edit: don't know why I'm getting down voted. I'm just reporting my experience.

level 1

The general wisdom is to keep doing what you're doing before the cut until something has to give and you fail to get your normal progression. Then consider lowering volume but keeping intensity (weight) the same. If you have to drop the volume so low that your workout quality decreases, then you may also need to drop the weight a bit. No matter what though, the key to maintaining mass is intensity.

level 2

Could you describe intensity in this context?

level 1

I will lose mass in general on a cut

You might find this interesting

level 2

Good read, but I felt I was reading a different language until I figured out all the acronyms!

level 2

Can anyone give me a TL;DR?

I'm lazy AF.

level 2

Im curious if you could answer this then, I usually do an incline speed walk on the treadmill for 20-30 min at max incline. My HR usually hits 125-155 depending how fast I'm going. Would that be considered LISS or something else?

*M/5'11"/178

level 2

I've read that before, but I've never successfully cut to low body fat levels without some loss in strength and muscle mass. Most others seem to share that experience, so I still advise people that they should expect to lose some size.

penningtonwone1961.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/4eqqo7/is_it_bettter_to_train_power_or_hypertrophy_on_a/

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